Alexandre Boulerice, the NDP Environment Critic, is proposing changes to the bill on the new environmental assessment process. The bill comprised of 364 pages contains a number of measures, but also raises many questions. It is therefore necessary to split the bill to allow for a thorough review of its impacts.

In order to repeal an existing law in Canada’s Immigration Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), NDP Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Critic, Jenny Kwan, is tabling a private member’s bill to remove the discriminatory clause. As it stands, Section 38(1) (c) of the Act discriminates against people with disabilities by allowing for the rejection of an entire family of applicants if one individual has a disability or medical condition.

Today, NDP MP Irene Mathyssen (London-Fanshawe) introduced a bill to amend several acts that discriminate against seniors. The federal government currently denies surviving spouse pensions to the military, Members of Parliament, judges, employees of Crown Corporations, public servants and employees of the RCMP if the retiree entered a spousal relationship after age 60.

On Tuesday, the NDP submitted its priorities for the upcoming federal budget, targeting growing inequality between the wealthiest in society and everyone else. NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh, and Finance Critic Peter Julian unveiled the party’s proposals which include closing tax loopholes for the super-rich and investing the recovered revenue to lower the cost of prescription drugs for all Canadians.

Three decades of work by Indigenous Peoples around the world was recognized today when the House of Commons adopted Bill-C-262 at second reading. This bill will finally align Canadian law with fundamental human rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

OTTAWA – Today, NDP Canada Post Critic, Irene Mathyssen, put forward motion M-166, calling on the Liberals to strike a special committee with the purpose of examining and recommending a plan for a federal postal banking system administered under the Canada Post Corporation.

OTTAWA – After the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled a fourth compliance order against the Liberal government, NDP Indigenous Affairs (youth) Critic Charlie Angus called on Minister Philpott to make public the funding gap the Liberal government has been ordered to correct.

OTTAWA – Today marks the one-year anniversary of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s broken promise to make the 2015 federal election the last election held under first-past-the-post. In response, the NDP’s BC Liaison and Democratic Reform Critic, Nathan Cullen, stood with stakeholders to remind disappointed Canadians that they can put the issue back on the ballot box in 2019.

OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has completed his shadow cabinet shuffle which began last week during the caucus retreat. With these changes, the NDP aims to maximize its parliamentary team’s efforts to fight economic and social inequality.

OTTAWA – New Democrats are renewing calls on the Liberal government to end pension theft. The NDP has proposed legislation that would protect the pensions workers and retirees have earned. Meanwhile, to date, the Liberals refuse to act to help workers beyond “monitoring the situation”.

OTTAWA – NDP International Trade Critic, Tracey Ramsey is renewing calls for Minister Freeland to be open and transparent with Canadians as the sixth round of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations takes place in Montreal. Ramsey has put forward a motion to the Standing Committee on International Trade inviting the Minister to share the government’s contingency plans if President Trump decides to withdraw from the talks and the free trade agreement.

New Democrats welcome yesterday’s decision by the BC Supreme Court which ruled that indefinite solitary confinement is unconstitutional in federal prisons across Canada. Advocacy groups successfully argued in court that this practice constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and violates the Charter-protected rights to life, security of the person, and equality under the law, since the practice discriminates against mentally ill and Indigenous prisoners.

OTTAWA — New Democrats welcome today’s announcement that the government will establish a new office of the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. However, we are concerned that the structure of this new office may not meet the standards promised by the Liberals during the last election.

OTTAWA – In light of recent news reports, NDP International Trade Critic, Tracey Ramsey is once again renewing calls for transparency from the Liberal government on the status of NAFTA trade renegotiations. The Liberal government must be upfront on how they plan to directly support Canadian businesses and workers if the deal collapses.

OTTAWA – Today, NDP Innovation Critic Brian Masse is calling on the Parliamentary Committee on Industry Science and Technology (INDU) to study the recent Apple iPhone battery scandal. Apple recently acknowledged that the performance of the iPhone 6 or older was deliberately slowed down in a recent Operating System software update.

TIMMINS - The NDP is calling on Minister Bennett to come clean over her department’s ongoing vendetta against survivors of St. Anne’s Residential School. Justice Paul Perrell in a January 4th Ontario Superior court ruling stated that the government’s tactic of going after two St. Anne’s Residential School survivors for court costs amounts to a “settling of scores.”